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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Applesauce/Apple Butter

When you're done here, make sure to check out Ott, A and her post!
Don't you just love the smell of apples and cinnamon? Oh, it makes the house smell so good! We love taking the kids out to the apple orchard and picking our own apples.



























































So what do you do with all those apples you picked? The possibilities are endless! Here's a recipe to use those apples in a couple of different ways.

We start out by making applesauce.

What you'll need:
Apples
Cinnamon
Apple Juice

Start out by cutting the apples into slices and remove the hard, inner cores. In a large pot, put in about an inch of apple juice. Add the apples and cinnamon to taste. I usually do a few shakes of the cinnamon shaker, then add more as it cooks if needed. Cook over medium heat until apples are soft.

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A lot of people prefer to take the skins off at this point using a food mill, or sieve/grinder. But while I was on vacation in Nashville, Indiana I went into one of the country stores. The kind where the little old lady who was probably around when Johnny Appleseed came to town is in the back with the big kettle making the apple butter right there. Anyway, their apple butter was so delicious and she told me the secret was NOT to remove the peel. Who'd have thought? Since then, I always leave it on.

Next, I put the apples in the blender, filling it about 3/4 of the way full, and run it on "Chop". At this point, you have applesauce. Now, you can fill your jars and seal.

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OR....make apple butter!
To make apple butter, pour your blended apples into the crockpot. Add one cup sugar to every four cups of apples. Then add cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Start out with a little bit of each and taste, adjust accordingly. The applesauce will need to cook for several hours, about 12 hours for a full crockpot. You don't need to worry about stirring it. After about 4-6 hours of cooking, add more sugar, at half the rate as before. So if you originally added two cups of sugar, add just one cup this time. Stir in the sugar and continue to cook. If your slow cooker has "hot spots", you will need to stir occasionally. After 10-12 hours of cooking, you're ready to pour into jars and seal.

To seal applesauce or apple butter, fill jars within 1/4" of top, wipe down rims and apply lids and rings. Place in boiling water for 15 minutes for pints or 20 minutes for quarts. Let cool overnight and make sure jars have sealed properly.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this!!!
Do real people really do this it looks to pretty to be real.

Keep up the good work love this blog!!

Jean

Cranberry Morning said...

Sounds delicious! Our MacIntosh tree didn't bear very many apples this year (last year we had a HUGE crop) - but still enough to make some of this. YUM.

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm...apple butter! I can't wait for the apples to ripen. I've got 3 crockpots, I wonder if I can get them all going at once?

Inspired2cook said...

I love apple butter!!! Yumm!!!

organicmommy said...

I am canning pears today. I will have a blog post up tonight or tomorrow with salsa and pear recipes. Applesause is tomorrow!

Garilyn S said...

I just may have to leave the skin on this year! AND use my blender...one of my 4 kids likes smooth applesauce and I bet that would make it smooth.
So ready to can some applesauce!!

Anonymous said...

LOVE all of these receipes and ideas for dinner. I love to look at this site.

Keep it all coming and I just might try canning. Not really!!!

Jean

Stephanie said...

I just started canning this summer and I CANNOT WAIT to go apple picking! :)

Susan said...

I love this - I make fresh applesauce a lot, but have never tried canning it. I'm new to canning this year and think this will be on my fall list!

I've added your button to my blog and am really enjoying canning week. And I have a question - how do you know when you need to use a pressure canner? I don't have one and read lots of recipes that use them.

Beth- the mama bee said...

I don't even put any sugar in my apple butter and we love it just the same!

Keli said...

i can't wait until our farmers markets get apples in! I can't wait to make applesauce again and I'm going to make some applebutter this year too!

Linda said...

I remember my grandma's delicious apple butter. I really need to make some for my family. Thanks.

alicia said...

Yummy!! Love the series here. Thanks for stopping by and linkin up for WW!

Megan said...

That applesauce look amazing!! I've never made homemade applesauce, but you've certainly inspired me to give it a go! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

That apple butter sounds heavenly. I peeled 1/2 a bushel of apples on the weekend. Wish I'd known then that I should have left the peels on! Live and learn I guess :D

WeeMasonMan's Mom said...

Oh my gosh, that looks so yummy!!!

Unknown said...

I cannot wait to go to the orchard and give this a try. Yum!

Sally Watkins said...

What fun!

Jill said...

Yummy! I'm stopping by via Thirsty Thursday and am now Following your Wonderful Blog :)

~Jill
http://frugalplus.com/

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! I'm never peeling again! I just finished off my last can from last year and can't wait to make some more.

Audrey

Unknown said...

Following from blog hop...would love to have you follow back!
http://funfritzfamily.blogspot.com/